Did you have role models growing up? Do you have role models now? Do share!

The term role model was introduced by sociologist Robert K. Merton. Merton says that individuals compare themselves with "reference groups" of people who occupy the social role to which the individual aspires. The term has passed into general use to mean any "person who serves as an example, whose behavior is emulated by others".

Growing up, I must admit that one of my role models was Amy Grant. Don't laugh! I'm sure she was for many eleven-year-old girls in 1988!

It was right around that time I started singing some of her songs at church, and around that time I started writing more songs of my own (though I have cassette tapes that captured my songwriting as young as 2nd grade).

I never thought I really COULD be like Amy Grant - you know, record a TAPE of my own! LOL. I just appreciated the example she was to young girls like me in a day and age when there weren't very many women doing that in the Christian realm. That example freed me to write songs and sing with all my heart, regardless of whether it was just for my family, my friends, my church, my school, or whomever was around. I really never did think all those years I'd get to record my music or see it shipped around the world like it has now, twenty years later.

Now don't get me wrong...I'm still a no-name gal who's only sold a hand-full of CDs in comparison to artists like Amy Grant...and yet, I'm thankful for the opportunity that God has given me to do what I do, and thankful for each of you out there that are part of this journey the Lord has me on. I'm thankful that He uses me at all! Sure, there are plenty of difficult days and lots of challenges I faced (and continue to face) along the way, but it means that God did place those dreams in my heart at a young age whether I fully realized it or not...and that many of those dreams have already come to pass. For that, I am truly blessed.

More on this to come...stay tuned to my blog this week! :)

Hope you're all hanging in there on this lovely Monday,
Sheri